Method of working ship-locks.



No. 872,082. *PATENTED NOV. 26. 1907'.

G. PUMBERGER. METHOD OF WORKING SHIP LOOKS.

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PATENTED NOV. 26, 1907.

G. PUMBERGER. METHOD OF WORKING SHIP LOOKS.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 30, 1908.

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APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 30, 1906.

4 BHEETS-SHEET 3.

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G. PUMBERGBR. METHOD OF WORKING SHIP LOCKS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30, 1906.

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GEORG PUMBERGER, OF EBERSCHWANG, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

METHOD OF WORKING SHIP-LOCKS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 26, 1907.

Application fil d June 30. 1906. Serial No. 3%,109.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEoRG PUMBERGER, landowner, subject of the Emperorof Austria-Hungary, residing at Eberschwang, Austria-Hungary, haveinvented a new and useful Method of Working Ship-Locks; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, whichform a part of this specification.

The object of the present invention is to provide for operating canallooks much more guickly and with much less commotion or isturbance inthe water than is now possible; a further object is to effect a materialsaving in the quantity of water which passes through the lock on eachoperation thereof in order to convey a vessel from the lower to thehigher level, or vice versa. 1 In the operation of the ordinary lock,itis necessary on each occasion thereof to lose so much water as reresents the ca acity of the look from the leve of the body of ivaterinthe lower canal to that of the body of water in the upper canal. Inorder to avoid this loss, it has been proposed to provide, adjacent thelock, reservoirs into which the Water of the filled lock, on thesuccessive emptyings thereof, may be, in part at least, disposed. Thatis to say, a series of superposed chambers or reservoirs being arrangednear the lock, and the highest of said reservoirs being lower than theextreme elevation of the water in the look, by providing each of suchreservoirs with valves controlling the flow from the look into saidreservoir, a saving of the water necessary to operate the lock may beeffected in the following manner: The valves of all the reservoirs beingclosed, that of the uppermost one is opened. The communication beingthus established between the uppermost reservoir and the lock, the levelin the latter falls to an extent commensurate with the capacity of saidreservoir. The valve of the uppermost reservoir is then closed, and thatof the next highest opened and commucation thus being now establishedbetween the second reservoir and the lock, the level in the latter againdrops to an extent commensurate with the capacity of the secondreservoir. These operations continue until all of the reservoirs havebeen filled, eachbeing opened, then filled, and then closed before thenext subjacent reservoir is opened. Thus: given a series of superposedreservoirs whose combined capacity is equal to two thirds of thecapacity of the lock, and as suming that the extreme elevation of theuppermost reservoir is at least so much lower than the extreme elevationof the water in the lock as is equal to the vertical dimension of eachreservoir, two thirds of the contents of the lock may be taken up by andstored in the reservoirs to be used on a subsequent operation of thelock towards filling the latter.

The reason for this is of course the fact that the level of the entirebody of water is maintained at all times lower in the next availablereservoir than what it is in the lock itself. Of course, there is awaste of the ultimate one third of the water in the lock, which isallowed to flow off in the lower water of the canal on the opening ofthe lower lock gates.

In view of the foregoing my present invention will be understood onreference to the following description and the accompanying drawing, inwhich,

Figure 1 is a semi diagrammatical view in vertical section of a lockconstructed in accordance with the principles of my invention; Fig. 2 isa similar View showing a horizontal section of the improved lock takenin a plane above the conduits c; Fig. 3 is an enlarged verticalsectional detail view of the upper portion of the lock; and, Fig. 4 is aview taken at right angles to Fig. 3 centrally of thelock proper.

In said drawing A designates the upper canal, B the lower canal, C thelock basin or look proper and D, D the gates of the lock ro er.

Parallel with the lock and above the level of its base is a longitudinalconduit (Z which may communicate with the lock (1 by means of the ports0. At one side of the lock are arranged the reservoirs 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6, 7, S and Q, the same being separated by a vertical conduit c whichmay communicate with the conduit (Z by the ports (1. The reservoirs 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are arranged in staggered disposition; that isto say, reservoirs 2, 4, 6 and 8 are disposed the depth of reservoir 8.As will be explained later, each reservoir is provided with a valve ordoor whereby it may be entirely closed 0H from the conduit 6.

In practice, if the reservoirs were arranged only in one superposedseries, the combined capacity of the reservoirs would be limited owingto the masonry which would be necessary between. them the arrangementabove described, whereby the reservoirs are staggered, permits a largerquantity of water to be accumulated in the series of reservoirs for thesame vertical dimension of the whole reservoir series. Furthermore, itwill be obvious that to fill each reservoir completely before fillingthe next subjacent reservoir is objectionable, partly because theconsequent intermittent exit of the water from the lock would beirregular and thus cause more or less disturbance in the lock and partlybecause time would be lost. I therefore propose to admit the water tothe reservoirs as follows: Reservoir 1 is first opened, and then whenthe level therein has reached a point corresponding to the lower half ofits capacity (it having about two thirds of the capacity of reservoir 1)reservoir 1 is opened; while reservoir 1 is filling to one third o'fitscapacity the remaining half of the capacity of reservoir 1 is filledreservoir 1 is then closed and reservoir 2 opened, and while reservoir 2is filling to one third of its capacity, reservoir 1 is filling to twothirds of its capac ity; reservoir 3 is then opened and while it isfilling to one third of its capacity reservoir 2 is filling to twothirds of its capacity and reservoir 1 to its full capacity. Thisoperation is continued downwardly throughout the reservoirs, one afterthe other, and as each reservoir is filled it is of course at onceclosed.

By these operations the water in the lock is quickly and gradually takentherefrom and stored in the reservoirs with a considerable saving oftime Assuming that while the water is being thus stored in thereservoirs, a vessel is being lowered in the look, by the time thereservoirs are filled, the new level assumed by the vessel will be thatof the water remaining in the lock. The gates D are then operated topermit the level in the lock to completely assume the level of the lowercanal, whereupon the vessel may pass out of the lock into the lowercanal. Of course, should the next vessel passing through the lock passin the same direction there will be a loss of the full contents of thelock, because the reservoirs are filled at this time to their fullcapacity.

But should a vessel enter the lock goingin the opposite direction, 6.e., toward the upper canal level, then. the lock does not need to befilled completely from the upper canal, since the water in thereservoirs 1s available for partly filling the lock. Therefore, since inmost canals the trafiic is about equally d1- vided between the twodirections, the reserve water in the reservoirs means a considerablesaving of water for operating the lock.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown in detail the means for operating theseveral valves for the reservoirs. is is a conduit arranged over each ofthe reservoirs 1, 1-8, 8 and communicating therewith at the inner endthereof, where a valve Z is provided which, belng in the form of afloat, shuts 0H communication between said conduit and the correspondingreservoir when the level of the water rises to the float andfalls, toopen the valve, when the level in the reservoir falls. as denotes gatescontrolling the communication between the reservoirs and the lock C, thesame moving in grooves m in the masonry y of which the lock isconstructed; n denotes rollers for easing the movement of the gates, thesame moving on rails 0 in said grooves. Each gate is formed with a rackp with which meshes a pinion g journaled in the masonry and in turnengaging with another rack 1" moving vertically in guides r and engagingeach at its upper end with a gear 8 in mesh with the hand wheel ifhaving a controlling hand gear attached thereto. By working the handwheel a the gates can be opened and shut.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent is:

The method of operating ship locks having annexed reservoirs disposed atdifiierent elevations which consists in causing the water to flow intothe uppermost reservoir from the lock and closing said reservoir whenfull,

causing the water to flow into the next subjacent reservoir and closingit when full, and

so on, downwardly, throughout the series of reservoirs, each subjacentreservoir being opened upon the partial filling of the reservoir nextrelatively above it, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this16th day of June, 1906.

GEORG PUMBERGER. Witnesses:

RUD ZIPSERP, E. WOLFSTEINMER.

